ENDLESS SUMMER NIGHTS
by sospecial21
Summary: When a young woman finds an unfamiliar box in her mother's attic, she is confronted with a past she had no idea existed. She learns of a past lover her mother had who turns everything upside down or perhaps she learns a love story that knew no end, even in death.


CHAPTER ONE

"Hey Nessie, what are those boxes in the corner?" Jake yelled over at me as I handed a box to Riley.

I turned to look at him and notice there are few medium size boxes off in the corner of the attic that I must have not noticed before. I walk over to him and look down at them. All that is written in black sharpie marker on the side is Carnville.

The box is pretty well sealed and I have no idea what the word written on it means.

"I guess just bring it down and I can sort through it later." I sighed

Jake just nodded his head and carried the box down the attic stairs.

We had spent the last week cleaning out my mother's house. It had been up for sale for the last year and finally someone bought it. I had thought about just buying it myself since this was the very home I grew up in, but I had a beautiful home of my own.

She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer last Spring and its only gotten progressively worse, so while she was still lucid we made the decision together to have her move into an assisted living facility. I had offered to have her come stay with us, but she refused.

I hated the thought of her living alone, but the facility, Eclipse of the new moon, was beautiful and everyone there had treated mom so fairly. And since dad passed away, she was never quite the same.

She had been there for six months now. I tried to visit every day, but I had a family of my own to tend to, so sometimes its was impossible.

After we loaded up the moving truck, we headed back home. Riley had school in the morning and Jake had to be in the city early the next day. I had taken a few weeks off to clean out my mothers house so we could finally sell the old thing.

As I got into bed that night, I turned to Jake who was reading a book. He looked so deep in thought, like whatever the words on the page seemed to have caught his undivided attention. I pulled the blankets over my legs and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He asked giving me a small grin while placing his book on the nightstand.

"I am worried about her." I sighed, feeling like there was a ton of weight on my shoulders.

"Nes, listen, its a good place, she likes it there and she already made a few friends. They keep a close eye on her unlike we would have been able to. You still get to see her everyday, isn't that enough?" He reached to touch my cheek, but I didn't like his response

"Its my mother Jacob! Its not fair, why did this have to be the life she was meant for? Its so meaningless! She see's me but as no idea who the hell I am most of the time. And poor Riley, she doesn't even know him." I could feel my voice crack and the tears begin to fall.

Jake leaned over and pulled me into his side. I rested my head on his shoulder while he wiped the tears off my cheeks. No other words were expressed and we fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

The following morning I dropped Jake at the train and Riley off at school. I decided to stop at this little bakery called Breaking Dawn. Mother had always loved their cheese danishes.

Afterward I made my way to the facility to see mother. I was greeted by the front nurse Esme. She was my favorite one by far. Something about her was always so honest and kind, it made me feel okay leaving mom here.

"How are you today Vanessa?" She asked in her sweet pitched voice

" I'm doing just fine. Is she awake?" I asked with a quick smile

"Of course she is, I'm sure she will be so happy to see you." Esme gave my arm a tight reassuring squeeze.

I nodded and walked toward the direction of her room, 214. The white door was closed and I knocked softly. I could hear some fumbling coming from inside and the chain to the door coming unhinged. A few moments of adjusting the lock, the door slowly opened and there stood mom in the red button down silk blouse I had bought her for Christmas with beige khakis on. Her once brown hair was now silver, but was neatly placed in a bun on her head.

"Can I help you?" Her hoarse voice asked with a somewhat confused look on her face.

"Mom its me Vanessa, your daughter.. I bought you some cheese danishes." I smiled holding the bag up for her to see

"Daughter?" She said to herself . You could see the distant look on her face as she tried to place me in her mind.

This happened most of the time when I would come to see her. She had her good and bad days. Today was obviously a bad one.

"Yes, I have a daughter, she looks a lot like you." Her forehead creased as she fought to find the image

"I'm your daughter." I said again

"Okay, hello. Come in with yourself then." She moved to the side to let me enter.

I kissed her cheek as I walked past her and she smiled as if it made her uncomfortable. I just took a deep breath and ventured further into the apartment. It wasn't anything huge, but good enough for her. There was a small living room, kitchenette, one bedroom, and a bathroom.

When you entered you are standing in the small living room with a kitchenette that was never used. Jake had disconnected the line to the stove in fear she might leave it on. The living room had a small coffee table with a television infront of it and a small cream colored love seat with maroon and black stripped pillows in each corner.

I placed the bag of danishes on the small table in the kitchenette and walked over to one of the cabinets to retrieve two small plates to put the pastries on. Mom stood by her front door for a moment, watching my movements about the area. She mumbled something to herself before nodding and joining me by the table.

The table was big enough for two people. I retrieved keurig pods from my purse and pulled her keurig from under the sink and placed it on the light wood counter top. I filled it with water and pressed the brew button, then retrieved our usual mugs from above the stove.

Mother took a seat at the small table and began to remove the danishes from the bag, placing them on each plate.

"These look delicious, where did you get them?" She asked while arranging them on the plate

"Your favorite bakery, Breaking Dawn. Remember you love their danishes." I smiled as I filled her cup with coffee.

"It sounds like a good place. A nice name." She spoke softly

I placed her full mug on the table and got the creamer and sugar, handing it to her. She began to add the cream and sugar to her mug and mixed it with the spoon. I got my mug and joined her, sitting across.

"How did you sleep?" I asked sipping from the hot mug

"I suppose fine, but Rose kept making a lot of noise in her apartment. Her television is much too loud. I must report that." She shook her head

"I will let Esme know." I smiled taking another sip

"Yes Esme, she is a good girl. I like her a lot. She did my hair today." Mom padded her bun

"She did a wonderful job. We finished moving everything out of the house yesterday. The new owner is moving in on Friday." I told her as I pulled the danish apart

"You are moving? That's such a shame. Where will you go? My place is small, but you can sleep on the couch. I nap there often." She reached and touched my hand

I gave her a nice squeeze back.

"Not my house mom, yours, remember? We sold it?" I asked with bright eyes

"My house? Yes, yes. I used to live in a beautiful blue house with my husband Jasper, but he hasn't come to see me lately, I wonder if he has fallen ill." Worry filled her face

"Yes mom the blue house and daddy died two years ago, remember?" I asked hoping she might

"Oh no he died? Nobody told me! What did he die from?" She clasped her hands over her mouth

"He had a massive stroke in his sleep, he went very quickly, no pain." I reached over to remove her hands from her mouth

"I think I remember that." She looked down at her plate

For whatever reason that boxed marked Carnville popped in my head. I hadn't gotten to look through it yet. I thought maybe if I asked her, she might know.

"I found some boxes in the attic yesterday. One was marked Carnville, any idea what that means?" I asked sipping my coffee

A look of surprise came over her face, one of recognition I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Mom?" I asked leaning in

"Carnville, hadn't heard that in a long time." She laughed

"What is Carnville?" I asked with playful curiosity

"Edward". She whispered to herself with a smile of a young girl in love

"Who's Edward?" I asked unfamiliar with ever hearing such a name.

"Your father." She looked me directly in the face

"No daddy's name was Jasper." I said pointedly

"No, your real father was Edward Cullen. A name I haven't spoken in years." Her smile flattening

"No mom, its Jasper Whitlock, there is nobody named Edward." I shook my head

"Just because a name doesn't sound like someone you are familiar with doesn't mean they never existed. That box you said you found, would you mind bringing it over here?" Her eyes filled with a hopeful expectation

"Sure I can bring it by tomorrow after I drop off Jake and Riley." I reached over to grab her hand

"That would be most appreciated, thank you Nessie." She kissed our linked hands and held it on the table.

I stayed until around 2 pm because I needed to get Riley from school. We didn't talk any further of this mystery person Edward and she began to slip back into her dark abyss.

When I got home, I went straight into the garage to find the box. I carried it into the living room and began to cut it open. To my surprise it was filled with journals, letters, and even some pictures. After I removed most of these things, at the bottom was a small jewelery box.

I took the lid off and inside was a gold heart shaped locket. I opened the locket up and there were two pictures, one a young girl with long brown hair I assumed to be mom and one of a reddish haired guy with striking green eyes. I had never seen eyes so green except for my own. The questions began to swirl through my head, I must find out who this is.

The next day after doing my usual running around, I headed to see my mother. I had a lot of questions that needed answers. I greeted Esme as usual and rushed with the box in my arms to mother's room.

This time she knew who I was.

"Good morning Nes, how are you? " She kissed my cheek while ushering me in

"I'm doing okay mom. I brought the box you asked me to." I said lifting it up in my arms to show her

"Well come and place it on the table then." She smiled pushing me gently by my lower back

I put the box on the table and we both sat down on the couch at the same time. I watched as she smoothed her hand across the name on the box, etching each letter with her finger. She began to smile and shook her head.

"What is it?" I asked

"Its funny that so much time as passed, yet the significance of a word is still so strong." She seemed lost in time

"Well what does this word symbolize mom?" I asked playfully

"A time that seemed so long ago but really it wasn't so long ago." She turned and looked at me then,her eyes falling to the locket I had around my neck.

"Where did you get that?" She asked pointing to the locket

"It was in the box. I hope you don't mind if I wore it." I bit my lip knowing sometimes she could become angry due to the Alzheimer's.

"No no, not at all. It was meant for you. However you know my memory is not too good these days. I had forgotten about it and also this box." She tilted her head.

I removed the locket from my neck and placed it in her hand. She just looked at it the same way she had looked at the letters on the box, mesmerized.

She slowly opened the heart and stared intently at the picture of the man with those green eyes. Not that I blamed her, he was devilishly handsome.

"Who is that mom?" I asked with great anticipation.

"That is Edward and me. God this was so long ago, 35 years ago." She shook her head

"I'm 35." I said more to myself than to her, but she heard me.

"Yes I know, this is Edward Cullen, your real father."...


End file.
